Old Family: Former First State Bank of Lakeland Holds Reunion

It took Clayton Brower roughly 60 days to get about 50 of the former First State Bank of Lakeland workers to attend the reunion, and he said he just found one of the employees at 9:30 Tuesday night.

By MAX MATTERNLEDGER CORRESPONDENT

LAKELAND | Clayton Brower, 85, banged his cane four times, cleared his throat and started speaking to his old family Wednesday afternoon.

"I'd like to welcome all of you today," Brower said with a big grin. "You don't know how hard I've tried to find everyone, and I'm so glad you are here."

Brower was vice president of First State Bank of Lakeland, located at 331 S. Florida Ave. where Bank of America is now. He contacted as many of the old bank's employees as he could find for a reunion at Fred's Southern Kitchen in Lakeland on Wednesday afternoon.

First State Bank of Lakeland originated in 1954 and was an independent bank until it became a member of the Barnett Bank chain in 1973. Brower started working at the bank in 1963 and quickly moved up the chain to vice president in 1972 until he retired in the 1990s.

For the past 4 1/2 years Brower has dealt with a heart condition that kept him in the house most of the time. His wife, Audrey Brower, said that was not usual behavior for her husband but a few months ago, Brower started to feel better.

"He now has a new lease on life, and it's almost like a miracle," Audrey Brower said. "He said to me one day, 'I'm going to get the bank back together.'"

It took Brower roughly 60 days to get about 50 of the former workers to attend the reunion, and he said he just found one of the employees at 9:30 Tuesday night.

The former employees ranged from 50 to 95 years old, and everyone spent the time rehashing the stories from the workplace, from a prank they pulled on each other to an elderly woman who opened her purse and had a flock of cockroaches crawl out.

"It was a small environment originally, and you knew everyone there," said Sandy Putnam, who was a secretary at the bank.

Putnam worked at the bank for 14 years. She said the environment of knowing everyone you worked with in the early years made it a family. In her first three years at the bank, she worked with Frederick Owen McKneely, the president at the time.

"He was honestly one of the nicest people I've ever met and was a pleasure working with," she said.

McKneely, 95, was president from 1962 until 1983. He made it clear Wednesday that there was nowhere he'd rather be than with this work family.

"It's so great to have all these people together," McKneely said, holding back tears. "This was a fine crew, and they were all dedicated to making Lakeland a better place to live."